A jury has begun deliberations in the trial of a Vermont man facing murder charges in the deaths of five teenagers after he caused a head-on crash by driving the wrong way on an interstate.
The jury hearing the case of Steven Bourgoin began deliberations late Tuesday morning after receiving instructions from Judge Kevin Griffin.
Griffin told the jury they could find the 38-year-old Bourgoin guilty or not guilty of second-degree murder and other charges, guilty of manslaughter or not guilty by reason of insanity.
Bourgoin's attorneys acknowledge that he was driving the pickup truck that hit the teenagers' vehicle in October 2016. But they say he was insane at the time.
Prosecutors counter that Bourgoin was troubled but legally responsible for the crash.
Eli Brookens, 16, of Waterbury, Janie Chase Cozzi, 15, of Fayston, Liam Hale, 16, of Fayston, Mary Harris, 16, of Moretown, and Cyrus Zschau, 16, of Moretown were killed on Interstate 89 in Williston as they headed home from a concert.
Childhood friends, Brookens, Hale, Harris, and Zschau attended Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, and Chase Cozzi was a student at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire.
Bourgoin could spend the rest of his life in prison if he’s convicted of the five murder charges.
The trial began May 6.
